November 13, 2014 (Thursday)
A pocket knife is very useful. It can be used for so many things that any list would be incomplete. I carry a pocketknife every day. I have done so virtually all my life. My grandfather taught me to do that. He always had a knife, and in his shirt pocket a pencil freshly sharpened with the knife. I’ve continued that habit also, only my “pencil” became a ball-point pen somewhere along the way. My knife includes scissors, screw driver, can opener, nail file, corkscrew, etc. It was a gift from my son-in-law, Rick. Through the years, I have lost so many knives I’ve lost count. But I always manage to get another one. I “don’t leave home without it.” Very useful.
I always carry a handkerchief. Sometimes two. With year-round allergies and occasional sneezes probable every day, I feel undressed without my handkerchief. I carry two because occasionally someone needs it, and I can produce a fresh one, never used, for them. Most people have found handkershieves to have multiple uses. Useful things.
In my left pocket is always a comb. I started that habit when I became a teenager and continued it into adulthood. I rarely use it these days, because of the common use of hair spray instead of the old Brilliantine hair oil of my youth. But, just in case, it’s always in my pocket, available if needed. Useful item.
I also carry a little bottle of hand sanitizer in that pocket. Recent years have brought that inovation and I find it very useful. I’m quite sure that using the sanitizer has prevented my catching so many colds. So it’s always with me. Useful stuff.
For years, I’ve had a lip balm of some kind in that pocket. I’m never without it. When I was younger, I had quite a problem with dry, cracked lips and discovered that the condition could be prevented with “Chapstick” or something like it. I also have a tiny packet of breath strips. Useful stuff.
In my left hip pocket is my billfold, or, if you prefer, my wallet. It is useful for filing credit cards, driver’s license, insurance cards, lists, blank checks, etc. and, oh, yes, currency, although since credit cards and debit cards are so easy to use, I don’t actually handle much money anymore. Still useful.
Finally, keys and coins reside in my right front pocket. As with currency, not many coins are there anymore, and I get rid of keys as soon as I can, because they can get bulky and heavy very quickly. Would you believe I also have a tiny flash drive on the key ring? Dwight gave that to me. Useful stuff.
So, you are probably asking, where is my purse? It’s in my pockets, I guess. This little inventory of my pants pockets has revealed that to me. And, oh yes, whatever happened to the “watch pocket?” Wrist watches have replaced most of them. And now, cell phones are rapidly replacing watches of all kinds. But I still have a watch. Have for years. My first watch was a Mickey Mouse watch when I was 6 years old. Would be worth a lot of money today. The beautiful watch I wear today is a gift from my daughter, Dianna. And it’s useful.
I used to carry a little card holder in my shirt pocket, and it held business cards and blank sheets for notes, and in the same pocket I had a very thin New Testament. I don’t have the cards anymore, and I can’t read the small type of the New Testament anymore. So my shirt pocket is usually empty, because I’ve learned to carry my pen in my pants pocket. But when I had them in the past, they were useful.
Remember the song, “I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle?” Well, I got pants that do that. But all those things are useful stuff.